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Lake Powell Adventure 2006 – Day 1

Synopsis: Load houseboat and motor to Camp I at Slickrock Canyon. (Sunday, November 19.)

We got up early and arrived at the marina a few minutes after they opened to find no one there.

Bullfrog Marina from a makeshift parking lot below the high-water mark.

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Eventually, we located our boat. It was quite a big larger and nicer than the one the Mountaineers had used two years prior, which was useful due to the gargantuan quantity of gear we began to stuff into it.

Our houseboat with three of the perhaps two dozen loads of stuff to be loaded.

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Erin was appointed to be in charge of the kitchen since she was the new girl. The amount of food seemed pretty reasonable at first, but more and more was delivered. Every time it looked like an end was in sight, two more boxes appeared on the counter. I observed that Erin was using her “stage manager voice” to move things along.

A friendly boat rental dude (in camo) giving us the tour. He was extremely talktative.

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The whole proces of loading the boat took over two hours, but finally we pushed off to sea, er, lake.

Bill K. and some other folks arriving with the motorboat as the marina recedes into the background.

Photo by Kathleen Gruetzmacher.
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Captain Don at the helm.

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It turned out that the boat didn’t steer well, and one of the engines wasn’t behaving. Sadly, this was problematic for several days. We had intended to head for Long Canyon, but due to the boat trouble we changed plans and headed for the closer Slick Rock Canyon.

Petey takes the wheel. At this time both Don and Bill K., our resident mechanical experts, were busy at the back of the boat trying to fix the recalcitrant engine.

Photo by Erin Tatge.
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Detour into Annie’s Canyon.

Photo by Kathleen Gruetzmacher.
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Bill K. realized that he had left his spare shoes in the car, so he was going to head back to the marina in the morning in the motorboat. Karl prepared an extensive list of things for him to pick up, including a sky hook and a left-handed screwdriver.

Eventually, we docked in Slick Rock Canyon and prepared for a brief dayhike.

Camp I in Slickrock Canyon. Note the prominent “bathtub ring” visible on the far shore.

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Map of Camp I and our brief late-afternoon hike.

(The teal line is our arrival path, the blue is our departure the following day, and the magenta is our return north several days later. The black is our hike.)

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Setting out for a quick look-see.

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There was quite a lot of trash embedded in the silt below the high-water mark.

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Slickrock Canyon from creek level.

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Please continue reading on Day 2.

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